Perfect PLL: Complete Series Rewrite
by thebestplltheories
Summary: This is my season-by-season, complete re-write of Pretty Little Liars. If I were show-runner, this is the direction I would have taken the show. Who would I make A? Why is A after the girls? What does A do to the girls? Who dies? How does the show end? What is the final scene? With only 5 seasons and 15 episodes in each, there are bound to be twists on twists. (Summary at the end!)
1. Season 1

Pretty Little Liars: the story of one friendship group that goes through hell after one group member is declared dead.

Season 1 is constantly fleshing out via flashbacks and present-day discussions the relationship that each liar had with Alison, as well as their relationship with Alison as a group leader. Aria was close with Ali as they had a fair bit in common; fashion, literature and boys, but Ali needed to remain the more knowledgeable and powerful in those areas. Emily loved Alison as more than a friend but Emily always got mixed signals from Alison - sometimes the kisses were for practice, while other times they felt very genuine. Hanna loved and needed Alison's warmth she provided in difficult moments such as binge eating, however, Alison frequently dropped insensitive one liners that hurt Hanna. Alison saw Spencer as her rival, as Alison seemingly always wanted what Spencer had but would never admit it. As a result, Alison's jealousy lead her to threaten Spencer to end the good things in her life. Spencer frequently built up the courage to speak up on behalf of the group, but this only fuelled Alison's rivalry with Spencer, as opposed to end the competitiveness. Overall, each Liar had a solid individual relationship with Alison however she constantly put them down. This conflict is heavily explored throughout the entire season 1.

* * *

At the end of Alison's funeral in the pilot, Spencer, Aria, Hanna and Emily receive a text which reads "The bitch is dead and it'll all be your fault. I'm just getting started with you four. -A"

The majority of the first season of the show is dedicated to A establishing themselves as a real and dangerous threat to the girls. In every episode, each liar receives a new threat: do as A says, or else their secret is exposed. By the end of each episode, each liar either successfully did as A said and therefore avoided their secret being exposed, or, failed to do as A said and therefore A exposed the secret themselves. (The latter leads to domino effects in the next episode.) In this way, and with only 15 episodes, each season 1 episode is action packed with secrets and lies. Essentially, season 1 is a season of blackmails.

Some of the secrets that A will threaten to expose throughout the season include:

\- Aria is in a relationship with her teacher.  
\- Hanna has shoplifted thousands of dollars worth of expensive items.  
\- Emily is questioning her sexuality and kissed a girl (Maya) at a party.  
\- Wren and Ian (Melissa's boyfriends) kissed Spencer.  
\- Spencer is taking drugs to keep her up all night, so that she can study longer, to boost her performance at school.  
\- Emily loved Alison as more than a friend.  
\- Aria knows that her father cheated on her mother but she has been keeping this a secret from her mother because her father offered to pay for college.  
\- Hanna's mother killed Mrs Potter (an old rich lady, the last in her family) by drugging her water, and she has been taking increments of money from Mrs Potter's bank account to pay off the home mortgage.  
\- The girls were with Alison when she threw a firework in Jenna's garage and blinded her. Therefore, the girls know Toby never blinded Jenna, like Alison declared.

Some examples of what the girls must do in order to prevent the above secrets being exposed:

\- Hanna must stop her dad from marrying Isabel whilst they are saying their vows at the wedding.

\- Hanna must get Kate (Isabel's daughter) expelled from Rosewood High.

\- Spencer must tell her parents that Melissa paid someone to write her thesis and therefore Melissa does not deserve the praise they shower her with (A provides the proof of this).

\- Emily must give Ella a ticket to the movie that Aria and Ezra will be seeing on Saturday night on their date.

\- Hanna must eat 8 large cupcakes in the school cafeteria, inducing a relapse in her eating disorder.

\- Emily must tell her dad that she wishes he would stay gone fighting in the army, rather than be home.

\- Hanna must shoplift again, or else A will tell the police of all her prior shoplifting incidents. This is a painful cycle: keep doing wrong, to avoid that wrong being exposed.

These threats from A are small and trivial in comparison to A's bigger picture: simultaneously to their individual threats, A is framing them for Alison's murder, as promised in A's first text at Ali's funeral. A does this by anonymously giving Detective Wilden convincing evidence of the girls having killed Ali. The Liars are aware that A is doing this, and A uses this as another form of bribery to do as A says. These anonymous tips make Wilden so sure that the girls killed Ali, and so he is building a case against the Liars all throughout season 1. However, the tips are not strong enough to lead to a formal arrest, rather A's tips merely increase Wilden's suspicion. Some of the evidence A will throw around that suggests the liars collectively wanted Ali dead include:

\- a recording off Alison's phone whereby Spencer declares to Alison that "what's a leader without any followers? The question isn't whether we would exist without you, but whether you would exist without us. Because as far as I can tell Ali, you're dead to us already.

\- a scrapbook that Emily made of Ali: the first few pages include happy photos of Ali and Emily with love heart decorations. The final few pages have pictures of Ali with devil horns and skulls drawn in, with captions "she loves me, she loves me not".

\- CCTV proof of Aria destroying Alison's memorial - Aria did this due to pure anger after A gave Aria proof of Ali lightly sexting her father, Byron. (Byron never reciprocated.

\- a voicemail Hanna left for Ali: "Ali, pick up. You can't keep avoiding me. I swear to god if you tell one more person what you saw me doing I will kill you, this isn't funny anymore." Unlucky for Hanna, her exaggeration can now be interpreted literally, given Ali is dead. (This voicemail is in reference to Hanna eating and intentionally throwing it up. Hanna struggles with relapses in her eating disorder.)

* * *

Importantly, one way the Liars fight back against the accusations that they killed Ali, is by shifting the blame to Ian Thomas, Melissa's fiancé. At school one day, the Liars shockingly find Ali's diary lying on the floor in the middle of the school hallway. The Liars argue over how it got there and who will keep it. Eventually, Emily takes it home and she only read as far as the pages where Ali shockingly wrote about a relationship she had with Ian. Ali told one unnamed friend about her sexual relationship with Ian. This infuriated Ian as he feared he will be imprisoned as a pedophile if Rosewood found out about this relationship. The Liars claimed that this was a motive for Ian to have killed Ali, so to clear their own name, the girls rip out these pages from Ali's diary and turn them in to the Rosewood Police. In a plot twist, we learn that the Liars' friend, Officer Garret Reynolds, is actually best mates with Ian, and Garret therefore destroys these pages as opposed to filing them as evidence. Of course, being new to these games, the Liars did not make copies and the next day at school, Emily realises that Ali's diary has been taken out of her bag. "Nice try! I'm everywhere, bitches. -A"

* * *

The fatal season 1 finale is all about the liars coming to sense with the monsters they have become. Throughout season 1, they were always willing to throw other people under the bus and lie to those they love in order to protect their own secrets - this is a moment of realisation as to why the show is called Pretty Little Liars. In the season 1 finale, the Liars agree that it is time to change their ways; rather than devoting all their efforts to doing as A says, they decide to devote their efforts to actually finding out who A is and ending this madness.

The season 1 finale commences with Spencer's threat-of-the-episode: "Oh Spence. Always wanting your sister's boyfriends. Tell Melissa about your summer fling with Ian, or I will. Tonight." Attached is a picture of when Ian kissed Spencer while he was training her in hockey which confirms that A's threat is most definitely real. When Hanna asks how A could possibly have such a picture, Spencer asks Hanna "are you seriously still asking how? A knows everything. That's the rule." Either way, Spencer will lose, as A has declared that her secret must come out one way or another. Spencer states that she would rather Melissa find out directly from her, rather than via an anonymous email. The Liars decide to stay true to their prior words; to use this situation to catch A in the act as opposed to blindly doing as A says.

Spencer lays in her bed starring at the ceiling and she has a conversation with herself in her head. She is aware that if she were to tell Melissa about her and Ian, A will somehow be watching or listening, to ensure the job is being done. Spencer tells herself to "think, think, think" of a place that is so physically small that A will be forced to come close to hear and see what is going on. Spencer visualises herself wrestling A and pulling off the hoodie and then she sits up in her bed as she has a lightbulb moment: "the bell tower," she says to herself.

Melissa gets in Spencer's car and sincerely thanks her for taking her out for dinner for some much-needed sister bonding, especially after Spencer's "immature" murder accusations towards her fiancé. Melissa points out to Spencer that she missed the turn onto the highway towards the restaurant, to which Spencer replies they are taking a scenic detour. After Spencer dodges numerous questions about the detour, they finally make it to the church; that place in Spencer's dream that is so small that A won't be able to run from when A is eavesdropping. "I know you're confused Melissa. You said I've been acting weird the past couple weeks. Tonight is going to be another weird night but I promise you, if you just do as we say, everything will go back to normal and I can stop being weird. We promise." Melissa asks who "we" is, but she answers her own question when she walks into the church with Spencer and sees Hanna, Aria and Emily already inside crouching behind the church pews. Hanna, Aria and Emily tell Melissa that she needs to stay here with them, hidden, while Spencer goes upstairs to the bell tower to "end the craziness". Melissa complies out of laziness and utter confusion as she doesn't even know which question to ask first. Spencer walks to the top of the church and into the bell tower, knowing that A will eventually show up to see if Spencer is completing her task. At the top, Spencer smiles, as this area is so isolated and so small; perfect for luring A.

From their hiding positions crawling on the ground, Aria, Hanna, Emily and Melissa hear the front door of the church open. Scared to stick their heads up from the ground, they can only see black boots walking into the church. Thinking they've successfully lured A into a small and inescapable area, they stay quiet and let this person walk upstairs to Spencer. Spencer hears footsteps coming up the stairs and she smiles again at the thought of being so close to A.

Knowing Melissa is safe downstairs with her friends, Spencer plays dumb for A. "Melissa, is that you? Thanks for meeting me here. I need to tell you something." The black boots that the girls saw enter the church downstairs step out of the shadows and the camera pans up not to reveal A, but instead, Ian Thomas. "Hello Spencer," says Ian. Spencer gasps and mutters "what the hell?". Downstairs, Aria is seen mouthing to her friends "I can't hear anything." Hanna gives 3 fingers, reminding her friends that the plan was to wait 3 minutes before rushing to Spencer's aid. All the while, Melissa is still confused as to why she is here.

Ian begins to talk. "You're making another mistake tonight, Spencer". Spencer tells Ian that she has no idea what he's talking about. "For a girl who prides herself on being an A+ student, you sure are one dumb bitch." Spencer looks at Ian with disgust, having never seen this side to him before. Even when she blamed him for killing Ali, Ian always stayed relatively calm. Tonight, something is wrong. "Waiting on Melissa are you? To tell her about our little mistake last summer? Why? What good would that do?" asks Ian, probably rhetorically. And it clicks to Spencer: A was one step ahead, and anonymously informed Ian of Spencer's task. Ian continues: "You're sick, Spencer. Your sick mind can't let your sister and I be happy. If you're not destroying her reputation, you're plotting ways to destroy mine. Lucky me, I'm the one who got the murder accusations." Ian takes a step closer. Spencer tells Ian that he is scaring her and that he needs to calm down. "You're beyond repair, Spence. You're out of control."

Ian quickly steps towards Spencer and grabs her by the throat, choking her, and lifts her up against the window of the bell tower. "Wilden is right. You killed Ali. And tonight your regretful heart reached boiling point. So you took your own life. How's that story? I'd believe it." (A quick flash suddenly goes off, almost as if someone took a picture.) Before Ian can throw Spencer off the bell tower, a black hoodie suddenly emerges from the immediate shadows and hits Ian with a shovel across the head, bashing his skull, causing him to drop Spencer back onto the ground. While Spencer catches her breath after being chocked, the black hoodie throws Ian's body out the window off the bell tower. This loud thump causes Aria, Emily, Hanna and Melissa to jump up. They sense something went wrong and so they open the church door and all scream at the sight of Ian's dead, bloody body in front of them. As Melissa runs to her fiancés' dead body uncontrollably crying, Aria looks up and sees A jumping out the window from the top of the bell tower, sliding down a pole. On the ground, A begins sprinting away to save their identity. Aria and Hanna start chasing after A but they don't get far before they realise Emily is not following them. Aria and Hanna see Emily at the top of the bell tower window waving them over. At the top, Emily, Aria and Hanna find a shaken Spencer sitting in the corner holding the shovel with Ian's blood, repeatedly mouthing "I didn't kill him." The Liars assure Spencer that they believe her, and they all hug her out of gratitude that she's still alive.

Aria suggests to the group that if they don't get out of here right now before someone calls the cops, the cops may think they killed Ian. Spencer sees Melissa screaming over Ian's dead body, and she convinces her friends that leaving is not appropriate. As Spencer goes to comfort Melissa, Melissa violently pushes Spencer to the ground and spits on her. "Go to hell! The four of you!" declares Melissa.

All four Liars' phones vibrate at the same time and they read it aloud while Melissa continues to cry: "I couldn't let Ian take one of my dolls. That would ruin my fun! -A". The screen smashes to black, ending season 1. The Liars' plan to catch A lead to a dead Ian.


	2. Season 2

Season 2 is very similar to season 1, in that the season revolves around A threatening to hurt the girls by exposing their secrets if they don't do as told. However, this season, the Liars have bigger secrets and the threats are significantly more dangerous, all whilst occurring in the aftermath of the season 1 finale. Also taking the front seat this season is the clear hatred between the Hastings and DiLaurentis family. Spencer finds a pay cheque of $100,000 from her father to Jessica and she doesn't let this go all season long.

Melissa is determined to get justice for the death of Ian. Melissa is positive Spencer killed him given Spencer's clear hatred for Ian and her unusual behaviour that night at the church. This is also Melissa's way of ending the sisterly rivalry and jealousy. This turns into a full-blown court case of Melissa vs Spencer. When A can see that Melissa is gaining ground in her case, especially with Spencer's fingerprints on the murder weapon, A gets scared at the thought of again losing their doll Spencer to a prison. A helps out by sending Spencer a picture of Ian choking her that night in the bell tower - Spencer proceeds to use the picture to claim self-defence. (Spencer notes this as the second time A has helped her, and she eagerly awaits some form of payback later.) Melissa's response is that the photograph is staged: how did Spencer even have this photo? Furthermore, Melissa reveals that to the jury that she is pregnant with Ian's baby, however this irrelevant revelation makes the jury think that Melissa is simply grieving the loss, and has a case of little to no merit. Melissa looses stability in the case; the photograph managed to successfully convince the jury of self-defence and the case closes in favour of Spencer. Peter and Veronica sit down with Melissa and Spencer and assist the girls in ending this rivalry war once and for all and for the rest of the series, Melissa is an ally (supposedly). Later, to her family only, Spencer reveals that she argued self-defence merely for the sake of closing the case, and that it's not actually true: someone else killed Ian, and she wishes she knew who that was. Not only did this anger A, but A is still seeking a form of payment for helping her win the court case. A goes after the one Spencer loves by loosening the bolts in Toby's scaffolding, making him fall from the top and sending him straight to hospital.

Some of the things A will put the Liars through in the 15 episodes of season 2 are listed below. Note the increase in severity of these threats and games compared to those of season 1.

\- This season the Liars decide to see a therapist, Dr. Sullivan, to talk about everything going on. However, upon receiving a welcoming brochure outlining the therapy program, the girls see that some words are circled in red. When reading one word after the other, they read: "say my name, and there will be trouble. A". The Liars think they can outsmart A by asking Dr Sullivan to spontaneously change rooms, in case A bugged the first room. They soon regret this, when they get a text from A reading "I warned you" followed by a photo of Dr Sullivan strapped to a chair in what appears to be an abandoned warehouse. A gives them 48 hours to find Dr Sullivan or else she dies.

\- A threatens to expose Maya's illegal residency in America and therefore get her deported, if the rest of the girls do not end their current relationships (Spoby, Ezria and Haleb). This is a test of true friendship and morals.

\- Mona starts getting text messages very early in the season. "More dolls = more fun. -A.

\- A exposes Caleb for illegally hacking into the court's files (to see the status of Spencer's court case against Melissa), sending him to jail. "It's just you and me now, Hanna Banana! -A"

\- A sends a photo to Aria of a page in Ali's diary where Ali wrote about a guy named Ezra who was always hitting on her at the library. Aria questions Ezra and Ezra, always wanting to be honest, reveals that he loved everything about Ali and was absolutely devastated when she died; so he thought going for one of Ali's friends is "the next best thing". Aria takes offence to being the sloppy seconds, but Ezra says he didn't mean it like that as he has truly fallen in love with her now. The two take a hiatus when Aria realises that Ezra knew who she was when they first met at the bar. In these dark days for Aria, she expresses interest to her friends in joining the A-team, because it appears A has so much intel on all of their lives. A knows it all and Aria wants in on the truth, whether it be good or bad. Of course, she tells her friends she is "just kidding".

\- The Liars take control of hosting the school's fashion show and A takes this opportunity to continue to paint the girls as Ali's killer. During the slideshow presentation that is dedicated to remembering Ali, A slipped in some of the incriminating evidence from season 1, including Hanna's voicemail, the CCTV footage of Aria destroying Ali's memorial and the recording of Spencer declaring to Ali that she is "dead to us already". The Liars are now viewed as the evil bitches amongst the entire school community thanks to A.

\- One episode will be dedicated to Emily's surprise birthday party which will be thrown at Spencer's lake house. This party will of course be trashed by A and the entire episode is to be like a mini horror film.

\- A put an invitation in Jessica's mailbox for dinner at the Hastings house. Jessica arrives thinking Peter wants to apologise for something, but of course, the Hastings are confused as to what invitation she received and so they aggressively demand that Jessica goes back home. Spencer, hungry for answers as to that cheque of $100,000 his father paid Jessica, intervenes and insists that a dinner is actually what these two families need right now. The lighter topics they speak about include Spencer and Melissa's academic achievements and Jessica's role on the board of Radley - the latter sparks particular anger in Peter, and he makes a remark about how powerful such a position is and that she must use that power carefully. Jessica agrees it's powerful, but "it doesn't pay very well. Thank god I've got Ken by my side!" The night ends civilly as most of the discussion was cryptic. Jessica speaks to Spencer on her way out: "Thank you so much for letting me stay, Spencer. The world needs more welcoming people like yourself... I wish there were two of you!"

\- A new character named CeCe Drake opens up a new boutique store in Rosewood across the road from the local cafe. When Hanna signs after making a purchase, CeCe notes that she's heard the name "Hanna Marin" before. After some chit-chat, they realise that they were both friends of Ali's - Ali told CeCe all about the Liars but Ali did not tell the Liars about CeCe. Hanna thinks this is weird, but CeCe clears the air: "oh honey, can you keep a secret? Half the shit we did was barely legal. I can't even blame Ali for wanting to keep our shenanigans a secret. Honestly, if Spence knew what we got up to, Ali would've lost that rivalry." CeCe says that she had just moved back to Rosewood now after taking time away to deal with the loss of her best friend. Importantly, A also begins harassing CeCe this season and this story arc has an explosive ending whereby A burns down CeCe's boutique store, leaving CeCe with nothing. Prior to this, A kidnaps CeCe and threatens the girls to come find her in only 4 hours. After successfully finding her, Aria makes a joke that they are better investigators than the Rosewood Police, given the similar situation with Dr Sullivan. The takeaway message of this story across the episodes is that A does not like CeCe.

* * *

The season 2 finale commences with the liars gathered in Spencer's house. The doorbell rings and upon answering it, no one and nothing is there except an envelope on the doormat. Spencer brings it inside and opens the envelope, highlighting to the girls that it's an invitation to Rosewood High's senior masquerade ball. Aria noticed the handwritten writing on the back of the invitation and reads it aloud: "Heads up: wear your best masks so I don't know who I'm aiming at. See you there! -A" Hanna reminds the girls that there is no way someone can bypass a gun through the school's security, but they all roll their eyes at this comment because "there is nothing A can't do" (says Spencer). Emily proposes that they could just not go to the ball, but Spencer insists that they mustn't run from the opportunity to be in the same room as A. Only then, can they finally catch A.

The Liars enter the ballroom with large, extravagant, beautiful masks concealing their entire faces from A. As they look around the room, they realise this was actually not a smart idea, as the rest of their cohort has small, cheap masks covering only a tiny portion of their face. "These big ass feathers don't hide us, they give us away!" says Hanna. "You know what. Good. Let A come to us. There's nothing A can do to us in a public area like this without exposing themselves," Aria reminds her friends. "Aria's right. I got a good feeling about tonight," declares Spencer. Emily proposes they all separate and look for A, but to keep their phones close in case of an SOS text.

The music in the ballroom pauses and over the loudspeaker, it is announced that the votes for Best Dressed are in. Mona is called onto the stage for Best Dressed Female and Hanna congratulates her friend for having come so far since her Loser Mona days. Hanna grabs Mona's purse from her, insisting she doesn't need it during this moment of glory on stage and Mona's eyes light up with anger like never before. Hanna tells Mona to "Relax! Go, get your prize, before they change their minds!" Mona nervously walks on stage and makes a quick speech about her proud transformation from Loser Mona to Best Dressed. Meanwhile, Hanna, holding Mona's purse, feels the purse vibrate. She opens it and reads the text message on Mona's phone: "Motion detected at Venue A. Attend immediately." Attached is a map location of this venue which Hanna studies. Hanna is so confused as to what she is reading that she doesn't realise Mona is already finished and walking off the stage, looking directly at Hanna on her phone. Mona asks Hanna what she is doing on her phone and Hanna says that "you looked so beautiful on that stage, I had to take a photo of you." Mona hugs Hanna and the two go get some punch. Hanna seems very distracted while sitting down with Mona drinking her punch. "Han, you haven't said a word the whole night. Is your phone more important than me?" Hanna apologises and puts her phone away and the two continue speaking as per normal. In the corner of her eye, Mona can see that Spencer, Aria and Emily are leaving. Mona excuses herself from Hanna for a bathroom break. She politely rejects Hanna's proposal to come with her.

In the bathroom cubicle, Mona is going through the photos on her phone. She does not see a photo of herself on stage, as Hanna promised she took. She opens another app and sees activity from Hanna's phone: a message to the girls in their group chat. "I may have found something. Check out this address, now. I'll explain later. Be careful. -Han" Mona marches out of the bathroom cubicle and sees Hanna waiting outside. "Mona, what's wrong? Where are you going!?" Mona ignores Hanna and she runs outside to her car. She speeds to a motel but it's too late: she sees Spencer, Aria and Emily already standing in the room on the ground floor of the motel. Inside the room are numerous photographs of the girls, four large computer screens with each Liars' name written above a screen, doll versions of the girls, doll houses, and of course, a row of black hoodies hung up. "Is this YOUR home, Mona?" asks Spencer. Sirens are heard coming from the distance. Mona stands silently still and with a tear in her eye she puts her hands forward and allows herself to be arrested, which reveals she really is behind this madness. Hanna finally pulls up to the motel in her own car and she instantly runs to her friends. Hanna sees Mona being escorted into a police vehicle and she knows what this means: Mona is A. Hanna's friends comfort her while she cries uncontrollably and Mona is driven away in the police vehicle.

Mona is sitting in her bed at Radley reading a book. Upon being visited by a Red Coat, she closes her book, revealing its front cover which reads "Mona's Bedtime Stories". Mona hands Red Coat her book, and Red Coat peels back the soft paper cover of the book which was hiding the book's real title from the Radley staff: Alison's diary. "They were so fun to play with. Those bitches are all yours." With Alison's diary in hand, Red Coat walks away and the screen smashes to black, ending season 2.


	3. Season 3

The Liars lived a happy A-free life for 3 months while Mona was in Radley receiving treatment. One day whilst the Liars are at dinner, their phones all buzz at the exact same time, which is odd as this hasn't happened since Mona was wearing the hoodie. Thankfully, it was only Mona's nurse, informing them that Mona is scheduled to be released from Radley next week and Mona wishes to explain herself privately before they all bump shoulders in the school hallway. Spencer, Aria and Emily are quick to reject Mona's proposal for a meet-up, insisting they wish to look to the future without being reminded of darker times. Hanna successfully convinces her friends that visiting Mona is the right thing to do, as it will not only be therapeutic for Mona, but it will provide the missing closure that has caused numerous restless nights for her.

* * *

Mona greets the Liars with a smile and she sincerely thanks them for attending. Mona can sense the tension so she doesn't hesitate to get right to the point: "Everything I ever did to you was entirely out of love," begins Mona. Aria instantly snaps, and demands an explanation as to how ruining her parent's marriage was an act of love. The nurse warns Aria to calm down. Mona continues: "When Alison crowned me as Rosewood's Loser Mona, she stole my chances of ever making real friends in this small town. There was no stopping Ali... another day, another horrible lie about Mona. I couldn't take it anymore, I just wanted it all to end." Mona removes her bracelets to reveal to the girls the healing slits on her wrist, which she had always done an amazing job of hiding at school with bracelets and makeup. "I'm only alive and sitting in this chair because of you four." The girls look at each other with total confusion and there is a moment of silence, hoping Mona will elaborate.

"Everyone in Rosewood laughed every time Ali called me Loser Mona… everyone except you four. I've read her diary and she was an A-grade bitch even to each of you. You're only kidding yourselves if you think Alison was a true friend to you. I could hear it in the words you never said... you hated that Ali bullied me. It was obvious you wanted to stand up to her, but I never blamed you for feeling scared." The Liars look at each other with a look of agreement on their faces. Mona is right about Ali. It feels weird that someone is verbalising it.

"One day Ali disappeared and I thought that would be the perfect time for me to finally gain your friendship without Ali possibly being able to stop me. But you four drifted over summer. You barely even recognised each other on the first day of school. Seeing you all together at Ali's funeral was the most beautiful sight but I knew that if I didn't make a move in that moment before you all got in separate cars, this group fall apart again. All it took was one text to super-glue you four back together." Hanna sheds a tear as she begins to understand how this was simply just a strange game of wanting acceptance.

"Once you re-confirmed your love for one another I began sending myself texts to ease my transition into your group. We were no longer just exchanging algebra notes, we were saving each other's lives. That's pretty special, isn't it?" Mona looks for a nod from at least one person but she doesn't get it yet, so she continues. "But I was never going to let anything truly bad ever happen to you. I mean, that would just defeat my purpose of wanting your friendship.' Mona now whispers this next part: "I know I took things too far sometimes and no one feels worse about that than me, but I literally killed to keep you guys safe. Sorry Ian." Spencer can't hold back her small smile of appreciation as she learns that Mona saved her life. Mona also adds that when the game got out of hand and Spencer got in legal trouble, she sent her the picture of Ian choking her, hoping she'd claim self-defence and win the court case.

"I was going to stop this craziness as soon as I finally felt loved and accepted by all of you. I never meant for it to end this way. I realise I took an extreme road to obtaining your love, but blame Alison. Not me. Look at the desperation for acceptance she instilled in me. We're all good people here." Mona then proceeds to explain how all she is asking of them is to not stare her up and down when she comes back to school next week.

Emily buts in and asks Mona why she began framing them for Alison's murder, as that seems pretty serious and beyond just a craving for love and acceptance. "You guys were never going to go to jail for Ali's murder. That's just not possible," begins Mona. "You dug up some pretty incriminating evidence, Mona. Fake evidence," Emily insists. "Haven't you all felt it? You guys, Alison is..." and the nurse cuts off Mona from finishing her sentence, as visiting hours are now over. The Liars beg for 30 more seconds but Mona's nurse is very strict in adhering to the terms of Mona's stay.

As they forcibly walk out, all the Liars' phones buzz at the exact same time, just like 3 months ago. "How cute! Mona wanted your friendship. I want your blood. Let the games begin, bitches. -A" They look back to see Mona smiling and waving goodbye, appearing satisfied at her confrontation with the girls. One things was clear: Mona couldn't have sent that text.

* * *

(Note that on Mona's first day back at school, Hanna asks her to finish that sentence: "Alison is..." But Mona insists that she doesn't know what Hanna is talking about.)

A dark and gloomy scene instantly begins of a Red Coat pressing their black boot up against the neck of a man lying on the ground. The camera pans across to reveal a black hoodie standing next to Red Coat. The black hoodie is dusting the smoke off the gun in their hand. The camera pans back to reveal Detective Wilden with a bullet in his head.

A funeral is held for Detective Wilden and the Liars attend in a move to avoid speculation that they had something to do with his death. They fear that the police's theory will be that they killed Wilden, just like they killed Ali, to silence him from closing Ali's case on them. Seconds before the funeral begins, a woman in a black veil enters and takes her seat alone in the far back left of the church. The Liars are confused as to who would conceal their identity at a funeral, and why.

This premiere episode closes on a Black Hoodie putting their gun in a safe and a Red Coat locking it. As the camera pans away, the same black veil costume from the funeral is seen lying on the couch, implying either the black hoodie or Red Coat; Wilden's true killer, attended the funeral.

Season 3 is dedicated to the new A playing a more dangerous version of the game that Mona played with them. Mona's threats were never truly life threatening, as Mona needed the girls alive to win their love. This A is determined to pin Wilden's murder on the girls and A does this by anonymously passing on incriminating (but fake) evidence to the Rosewood Police for every failure at blackmailed tasks. The girls therefore become more determined than ever to prove they never killed Ali, as proving their innocence in Ali's murder would therefore clear their name in Wilden's murder case too: they did not kill Wilden to shut him up for him telling they killed Ali. Intense seasons are spent in this World War A: A wants to see the liars physically suffer and A wants them behind bars for multiple murder cases. Episodes are spent going back and fourth: A attacks, the Liars retaliate.

* * *

The show gives their first and only Halloween episode in season 3. Rosewood High is celebrating Halloween on a train and the entire cohort is invited on board for a night of music, drinks and dress up. Spencer begins to feel claustrophobic on the dance floor so she steps out to get some air and on her way to the isolated bathroom she is choked from behind by someone in a Red Coat and Spencer falls to the ground. The camera returns to the dance floor and the girls eventually notice that Spencer has been gone for an unusually long time. Then the text comes in: "Guess who's not gonna make it to the end of the line. A" The rest of the episode is spent trying to find Spencer and surprisingly, it is Mona who finds Spencer and tells the Liars where she is: at the back of the train. The Liars run to the back of the train and they see a person in a Red Coat trying to push a box off the train. The girls hear Spencer's scream and they assume Spencer to be in that box. As the Liars come closer, the Red Coat fears for their identity so flees by jumping off the moving train. (Note that the train is not moving at insane speeds, as it is hosting a party on board!) The Liars work together to rebalance the box before it tips off the train and they break down the box with hammers, successfully saving Spencer. Mona calls the police for help which leads Hanna to insist that Mona wouldn't be behind this, however Aria reminds Hanna that that's what Mona would want her to think. The train comes to a stop and everyone gets off as per police orders. When speaking to the police, the Liars give Mona's name as their prime suspect behind this attack - how else did their former enemy find Spencer so fast?

Also in season 3, A begins sending Toby messages, revealing that his mother, Marion, did not actually commit suicide like he had been told - instead, she was killed by a Radley patient one night on the rooftop of Radley. If Toby wishes to know who this killer is, he must do as A says. Indeed, Toby is aware that A may be lying, but, in the odd chance A is saying the truth, he will comply with A's orders "no matter what". This is a recurring story throughout the season and he gets himself and Spencer into a few close calls.

* * *

In the season 3 finale at exactly 5:00pm, the Liars receive a text which reads: "You've seen my love for games, but this isn't one of them. Be there tonight, or else she dies. -A." The Liars see the attachment which is a set of coordinates and a photo of a terrified Mona. Aria tries to convince the group that this is a trap set by the same old Mona, but Spencer is quick to declare that it's not worth the risk and they'll never know for sure unless they go. Hanna smiles at Spencer for having a progressive attitude towards their former enemy. The Liars stealthily enter the Lodge through the side door, thinking they can get a sneak peak as to what is happening inside but as soon as they step inside, a jump-scare occurs where Mona pops out from around the corner in her black hoodie. "What the hell is this?" Hanna mutters. Aria's face is easy to read: this was a trap… I told you so. Mona's phone vibrates as she receives a text reading "I told you they would come... they do care about you. Offer them a drink, but first take their phones. Everything is going to plan. -A."

Mona demands that the Liars hand over their phones, or else her boss won't be happy. Hanna accuses Mona of being behind the attack on the Halloween train and Mona repeats her instructions, louder. Out of fear of the unknown, the Liars do as Mona says; one by one they hand over their phones. The Liars are shocked to see that Mona is taking only their plastic phone cases and she is quickly and discretely returning their actual phones to them. Mona places the phone cases in a clear plastic bag and takes a picture of the bag from a safely un-perceivable distance. She sends the picture to her boss with the caption "done". Mona subtly winks to the girls: Mona is on their side.

Playing along, Hanna asks Mona what they are doing here in this house. "I'm not going to spoil the surprise! I'll make us some tea while we wait," says Mona. Hanna can tell that Mona is going off a pre-prepared script as her eyebrows were unusually high and her chin was subtly shaking. While Mona is in the next room preparing the tea, Hanna whispers to Spencer, the fastest typer of the group, to text for help with her phone that Mona never truly confiscated. Spencer pulls out her phone and alone, in the corner of the room, Spencer is not seen contacting a familiar contact such as her parents or the police. "Mona fooled us both. What do I do, boss?" reads Spencer's text.

The Liars begin to smell an intense burning aroma which can't be Mona's tea. They turn to face the back wall of the Lodge and suddenly it violently erupts into flames. Mona rushes out from the kitchen and slaps Spencer, knocking her out. The Liars scream out of fear and confusion as to what Mona just did to their friend Spencer: is Mona on their side or not?

"I know I haven't fully earned your trust yet, but tonight I'm going to prove my innocence. I need you to believe me when I tell you that that's not Spencer," declares Mona. "I know it sounds insane but I bet my life on that. Does the Spencer you know have massive bruises along both legs?" Mona points to the bruises that are now visible on the knocked out Spencer on the ground. "We need to get out of here right now. Her escape route is just through that room. Follow me or die in here with her," instructs Mona.

Mona successfully guides Aria and Hanna out of the burning Lodge however the three girls are shocked when they look back and see that Emily is not behind them. Mona, who insists on going back inside to save Emily, is stopped by Hanna who points to a blonde in a red coat in the distance, dragging Emily's body along the ground away from the fire. Mona, Aria and Hanna rush to Emily's aid which sends the blonde in the red coat sprinting to protect her identity. When Mona asks Emily who saved her, Emily very assertively says "Alison".

Mona, Aria, Emily and Hanna cough out the smoke in their lungs and stand back to watch the Lodge blow up. Aria, confused as hell, screams out Spencer's name in fear they left their best friend in the explosion. Mona rallies the girls together and hugs them, reminding them that no matter how hard to believe, whoever that was inside there was not truly Spencer. Aria asks Mona what the hell she is talking about and the shot pauses on Aria and Mona before doing a time-warp back to 4pm earlier that day. The answer to Aria's question is served through a flashback to earlier that day.

A park ranger finds a broken down Spencer in the middle of the woods and she is repeatedly mouthing "Toby". The park ranger assesses Spencer as psychologically disturbed and therefore he rushes her to Radley, in urgent need of psychological and even physical care. Her test showed symptoms of depression and unresolved grief and so Spencer is assigned a doctor for a therapy program at Radley: Dr. Wren Kingston.

Wren enters Spencer's private room at Radley to greet her. As he sits down, he opens his thick folder of patient files. Placed on top is a file with a photo of Spencer, labelled with the name Alex Hastings. Wren violently closes that file and places it to the back of his pile, bringing out the correct file of Spencer Hastings.

Back in the present, the finale ends on a close up of Alex Hastings' dead body burning away in the Lodge. This is why Spencer dismissed Aria's concerns and insisted they walk into A's trap and go to the lodge - that never truly was Spencer: it was Alex Hastings. The question remains, however: how did Mona know that was Alex and not Spencer in the lodge? Season 3 is ending on the note that Alison is probably alive, Spencer is in Radley, and Spencer has a (dead) identical twin.


	4. Season 4

The fourth season premiere begins with Aria, Hanna and Emily visiting Spencer, the real Spencer they know and love, in Radley. Veronica called them the minute she was informed that Spencer was just admitted to Radley. "Thank god you're alive!" exclaims Aria, forgetting that Spencer has no idea what has happened outside these walls. Spencer struggles to get out any words to her friends, as she is still in shock as to what she saw in the woods that landed her in Radley in the first place. As Wren walks in the room with Spencer's daily medication, Hanna's confusion and concern leads her to take out her anger on Wren. "Wren, why the hell is Spencer here?" bites Hanna. Wren directs the girls outside to talk in private, away from Spencer. Wren informs the girls that the police examined her phone and found a text from an unknown and untraceable source which instructed Spencer to show up at the woods at 5pm if she wants to put an end to the game. Wren adds that in the few words Spencer was able to get out, she said she arrived at the destination and was shocked to be faced by Toby Cavanaugh.

"Does this mean anything to you? Why would Spencer collapse when she sees Toby? Aren't they an item?" asks a very confused Wren, hungry for answers to help his patient recover. Emily makes up a story about the difficulties Spencer and Toby were going through, with "the game" Toby mentioned in the text being the nasty term Toby used to refer to their unstable relationship. Further, Emily says that Toby must've chosen the woods as that's where they had their first date (a picnic) and Toby must've cared to end it in a somewhat thoughtful manner. Whilst Emily continues to try to lose Wren's suspicion of lies, Hanna and Aria step aside and beginning chatting, finally understanding why Spencer was not with them at the Lodge last night: Spencer was busy following orders from A, who is apparently Toby, to meet in the woods. "I can't believe I'm saying this but Mona was right. If Spencer was in Radley last night, then who the hell was with us trying to light our asses on fire?" whispers Aria. Note that only the audience is aware of Alex Hastings, due to the snippet of her Radley file given in the final moments of the finale. Wren's phone suddenly vibrates and he is called in for an urgent staff meeting. Before dismissing the girls, Wren tells them that he will contact them once Spencer is talking again.

At the staff meeting, the Head of Radley regrets to inform all staff of the passing of a long-term patient, Alex Hastings. A current (random, irrelevant) patient takes the microphone to speak about her late friend. She highlights Alex's love for games, her mysterious book that she never let out of sight and no one was ever allowed to touch, as well as her love for wandering around Radley rooms in her pretty, vibrant red coat. Wren is seen trying to hold back his tears over the news of this death, suggesting he knew Alex quite well. The meeting ends on a warning to all staff: that as a result of Alex dying while utilising her out-privileges, the out-privileges of all current Radley patients is temporarily cut, effective immediately.

As they are leaving Radley, Aria, Hanna, Emily and now Mona, receive a text which reads "You made a big mistake. Rest In Peace Alex. -A". All in complete shock, Mona mumbles: "It had a name... Alex."

Mona, Aria, Hanna and Emily are sitting in Spencer's living room by the fire place with pure shock on their faces as Mona talks. "I did some snooping at my second home, Radley, and I found out that Alex Hastings is Spencer's identical twin sister," begins Mona. This part, the liars had already began to suspect so Mona gets nothing but blank expressions from the girls. Mona continues, this time giving new information. "Alex practically grew up in that place but I don't know who put her there and why. I checked my own records and Alex was my only visitor for weeks. I don't remember what Alex and I spoke about. I really don't. I mean, I was so drugged up that I didn't even know the same person was serving me lunch everyday for 3 months... sorry Eddie. I have no idea why Alex was plotting to roast us like marshmallows."

Emily looks confused at Mona's use of the term 'us' but Hanna lets Mona continue speaking.

"A reached out to me. I don't know who the bitch is, but they told me they needed me as bait to lure you all to the Lodge. I agreed, not because I'm on A's side, but I figured we will never learn who the puppet master is by always keeping our distance. I had no idea about A's plan to light a campfire, I swear," finishes Mona. Hanna tells Mona that she believes her innocent role in all of this, because at the end of the day, Mona was the one who stopped Alex from whatever the hell she was planning. Emily quickly proposes that maybe the fire wasn't lit by Alex since was Alex was inside the lodge too and she would only be killing herself in the process. "I agree, Em. I don't think Alex wanted us to burn. Someone else must've lit that fire. I mean, A promised me that if I lure you all to the lodge, I would leave without a single scar. But something didn't seem right about Spencer. I'm surprised you three couldn't pick it up. When I disobeyed my orders and didn't take your phones, you all had smiles on your faces... except for Spencer." Mona does the air-quotation hand gesture when using Spencer's name. "She looked genuinely concerned and that sent alarm bells ringing. Then I saw her bruised legs and it looked as if she'd just jumped off a moving train. And then I got a whiff of her hair and I recognised that beautiful Versace fragrance... the one that is all over my Radley gown. It all happened so fast but thank god I put two and two together. That was the person visiting me in Radley everyday."

This is a moment of revelations that Alex Hastings was the Red Coat who visited Mona in Radley and took Ali's diary off Mona, as well as the person trying to throw Spencer off the Halloween train. Note that at the staff meeting at Radley, one of Alex's friends said Alex loved to wander around Radley in a Red Coat. Although this is not explicitly explained in the show, fans who pay attention will enjoy putting these pieces together themselves, instilling a sense of active engagement with the show's mystery.

Mona's mood suddenly changes: "I've tried so hard to prove how much I regret what I did to you but all I've done is piss off A by killing Alex," finishes Mona. Hanna jumps in to thank Mona. "Who knows what Alex was going to do to us in there. For all we know, we should be dead right now. Thank you Mona." The duo hug, which is a big moment, after lengthy periods of questioning Mona's true intentions.

Spencer suddenly walks into their living room with Veronica and Peter, having unexpectedly just arrived home from Radley. The girls expertly change the topic to the geography group assignment. Veronica and Peter head into their office, leaving Spencer some privacy with her friends. Mona, unsure of her place with Spencer yet, stands on the sidelines while the Liars rush to hug Spencer to welcome her home.

They all sit down and the mood in the room suddenly gets even more serious. Spencer updates her friends by informing them that Wren was genuinely a great therapist and the reason she is home so quickly is because she lied her way out of her psychological evaluations by creating a persona that everything is fine. This is another moment of realisation as to why the show is called Pretty Little Liars. "I needed to be able to speak to you guys without my nurses listening to every word," begins Spencer. Still in the process of healing her broken heart, Spencer manages to get out the words that Toby is A, as Toby was the one waiting for her in the woods in a black hoodie. Spencer says that Toby was holding a gun to her from a distance but he ran away the second Spencer pulled out her phone to pretend to call the girls, despite having no service in the woods. Emily tells Spencer how weak Toby is. Expectedly, the girls comfort Spencer and assure her that in the unlikely circumstances that Toby has the guts to come back, they'll be ready for him.

Mona feels the need to justify her presence in the room which is something Spencer is undoubtedly wondering. However, as soon as Mona opens her mouth, Hanna gives her the eye-signal to not say a word about what was previously discussed regarding Alex. It was quickly made clear that the plan is to not further break Spencer by telling her that she has a dead twin sister and an enraged, vengeful A. Instead, Mona invites Spencer to a 'welcome home' sleepover tonight in the barn. Spencer can see that her friends are comfortable around Mona, therefore Spencer is comfortable with Mona too. Spencer laughs that she is being invited into her own barn, but more than happily says yes to a much deserved fun night with her friends.

Aria, Hanna and Emily decide to let Spencer rest and so they leave. Mona stays behind to clarify her innocence, particularly how she was taking orders from her unknown boss in an attempt to discover his/her identity. Spencer can honestly sense that Mona is speaking the truth and the two share a sweet moment. Spencer offers to walk Mona out, however Mona insists that Spencer rests and that she will find her own way out. Discretely, Mona pops into the Hastings' office to grab the microchip she must've placed earlier. (The audience will clearly mutter "when the hell did Mona place that chip?" But remember, this is the former A.) Mona gets in her car and presses play on the recording, and a conversation between Peter and Veronica begins playing. "Maybe it's good she's dead. Now Spencer will never know about her. Now Spencer is safe," begins Peter. The screen smashes to black before the rest of the audio can be played for the audience.

Later that night, Aria wakes up and reports that Emily has gone missing. The Liars track Emily's phone to the Rosewood Cemetery and when they get there, they are shocked to see Emily standing with a shovel in her hand in front of Ali's open grave. Spencer reminds Aria to keep her voice down when she shouts "what are you doing Emily!?". Emily shows the girls the text she got on her phone, which read "Meet me tonight. Alone. The place you go to remember me." Emily tells the girls that she assumed this was Ali trying to get in contact with her, since she remembers seeing Ali pull her out of the burning lodge. Emily reveals that the grave was already dug up before she got there and she picked up the shovel to undo this horrific prank someone is playing. Mona agrees with Emily that this is a twisted prank and she insists that they all get the hell out of there now. A flash goes off in the distance and the girls start running, still with the shovel in hand, wanting to dispose of any evidence. After burying the shovel out of town, the girls all agree on their story: that they stayed up until 2am watching The Bachelor in the barn drinking hot chocolate. They fall asleep as if nothing happened.

The next morning, Alison's slightly dug up grave is all over the news on TV. Whilst watching the news, the Liars, Mona included, receive a text: "CheckmAte!" They open the attachment, and it's an image of the Liars holding the shovel at Alison's open grave. Emily instantly cries, feeling as if this is her fault, but Hanna reassures her that she would have done the same thing had she received a message from who she thought was Alison asking to meet. Whilst Emily appreciates the comforting words, she emphasises the current situation: if A leaks the photo of them at Ali's dug-up grave, they look guilty for being involved in Alison's murder, and therefore Wilden's murder - as it will seem as if they killed the detective to shut him up about them having murdered Ali.

The World War A theme from season 3 returns in season 4: the Liars need to prove they did not kill Alison, to be innocent in Ali and Wilden's murder cases. Season 4 is different, because finally, progress has been made - Emily has reason to believe Alison is indeed alive. Bringing Alison home, alive, destroys all validity to A's murder accusations. To make this season more dangerous, the Liars also have Alex's blood on their hands. No longer is the show about the Liars' secrets such as having a sexual relationship with a teacher or kissing a sister's boyfriend: this show is now a full murder-mystery whereby these 5 pretty ladies are about to go down for multiple murders they never even committed.

Since Mona feels the most responsible for Alex's death, she allocates herself to be the one to break the news to Spencer. Upon explanation, Spencer is initially amazed at what she missed when she's gone for such a short time, but upon further reflection, she realises it's just another day in Rosewood. Mona finally plays the rest of the recording of Peter and Veronica and allows Spencer to listen in with her, and a lot of answers are finally revealed regarding Alex. This is another moment of Mona saving the day. The below points are revealed and told via flashbacks, lead by Peter and Veronica's commentaries from Mona's recording.

\- Alex Hastings is Peter and Veronica's child, as is Spencer.

\- Peter and Veronica were initially thrilled at the news that they are having twin girls, however, whenever they let the baby twins play together, they noticed Alex's tendency to make playful games violent. One day, Alex even dunked Spencer in a bath tub of scalding hot water, but thankfully Melissa pulled Spencer out in time.

\- Peter and Veronica had Alex formally diagnosed with schizophrenia which lead to her placement in Radley.

\- One day at Radley, Alex pushed Marion Cavanaugh off the roof which killed her. In order to uphold their image, Radley tells the media that it was a suicide, not a murder. But internally, a patient is going to get the blame. Peter offers to buy Radley to shut them down and to suppress Alex's mistake, but Jessica, who is on the board of Radley, declines and has a counteroffer: pay her $100,000 directly to suppress Alex's mistake. Peter pays and Jessica keeps her word, but this explains the feud between the Hastings and DiLaurentis family: Jessica abused her power to get Peter's money.

\- The recording finishes with Peter's comment which Mona heard a few episodes ago: "Maybe it's good she's dead. Now Spencer will never know about her. Now Spencer is safe."

* * *

The next episode is dedicated to closing Toby's A storyline. Spencer receives a text from A, who she assumes is Toby. Toby demands she goes to the exact location they met prior in the woods - if she does not, he will expose the photo of her at Ali's open grave. Scared, Spencer steals the gun from her father's desk and goes. Toby takes off the hoodie when talking to Spencer and he doesn't hesitate to get right into it. He begins by revealing that he is not actually A. (Duh.) He reminds Spencer of the texts he was receiving from A that demanded he follow A's instructions for closure on his mother and his final instruction to win the prize was to wear the hoodie and kill Spencer that night of the season 3 finale. Toby says he never pulled the trigger because the truth about what happened to his mother was not worth the life of his one true love. He was also trying to work out who A is so that he can protect Spencer. Spencer says that she wants to believe that but she's not sure if he means that, or if he's just saying what she wants to hear. She proceeds to say that she knows the truth regarding his mother and "it's pretty ugly". When Toby asks what happened, and how she knows, Spencer tells him that he doesn't get to ask questions right now. Toby says he can prove his good intentions. He begins by revealing that Jenna is the one who tried to light them all on fire as he saw her there while he was trying to protect Spencer from the sidelines. Spencer, still angry at this betrayal, makes a remark about what a bad job he did to protect her. Toby reaches into his pocket which causes Spencer to twitch and reach for her gun. But she puts it away when Toby pulls out a brochure of open blocks of land that A had been looking at - he stole these from A's lair. He proposes to Spencer that maybe A is hiding out at one of these locations, but Spencer doesn't smile like Toby expected. Spencer snatches the booklet and walks away from Toby. Clearly, the two need some time apart.

A string of episodes later and World War A is not going in the Liars' favour. They decide that they need to get in communication with Ali to shut up A's claims that they killed Ali and Wilden, but they struggle, as they have no idea where the hell Ali is hiding. Spencer theorises that Ali came out of hiding to save Emily at the lodge when Emily was in danger, so therefore, maybe Ali will show up a second time if Emily is in danger yet again. Spencer feels horrible for proposing such a thing, but Emily agrees with Spencer's logic as she also desperately wants to find and see Ali.

A threatens the Liars that if they do not hand over Mona (for being responsible for Alex's death), A will leak that picture of them at Ali's open grave. Note the recurring theme, that A basically owns the girls with this photo. All the girls agree to send out Emily instead of Mona - this not only reaffirms Mona's acceptance in the group now, but it is also their attempt to lure Ali out of hiding again. As Emily enters the abandoned house that A prescribed they hand over Mona, Emily sees A standing at the top of the staircase with a gun. Clearly, A's intention indeed was to kill Mona as revenge for killing Alex. Emily makes a speech to A about how they will never hand over Mona and suddenly a creak in the floorboards is heard from the room down the hall. Emily smiles, thinking Ali has shown up, exactly as hoped. A walks towards that sound and Emily's smile suddenly turns into a frown, thinking Ali is now in danger. Emily panics and instinctively runs back outside to her friends in the car who are aggressively waving at her and yelling to get back in the car right now. She does, and as they speed off, Aria points to the glass window of the car where a note has suddenly been strapped down to the window wipers: 'Tomorrow, 8pm, 515 Brookhaven Road, Apartment A. - Ali" Indeed, this was one anti-climactic night: the audience may have been expecting a fight-scene between Emily and A or even Ali and A. However, the beauty of this event being short and simple is that it highlights Ali's expertise at running around undetected; she's gotten good at stealthily moving around and faking her death.

The Liars all leave their phones in Spencer's barn, so that if anyone tries to track their location, it looks like they're having a sleepover. They grab their new unregistered phones, paid with cash, and hit the road to Ali's location.

* * *

The season 4 finale begins with the Liars knocking on a door and seeing an eye through the peephole. Emily smiles, instantly recognising those vibrant blue eyes as Ali's. It's her. It's really her. Alison opens the door and warmly greets each liar one by one. This is a big moment for the series: no more theorising - Alison is factually alive. Ali welcomes the girls to her apartment and tells them that she's been hiding here until she figures out when it's safe to come home. When Emily asks how she can afford such a place, Alison tells her that that's a secret, which sets off alarm bells that they're potentially dealing with the same old secretive manipulator. Why not truthfully answer their basic question? Nonetheless, a long-anticipated sweet moment is shared between the reunited best friends before things get really serious.

Spencer instantly begins the Ali-interrogation by asking what she meant by figuring out when it's safe to come home: why does she not trust that her friends and the police will keep her safe? Alison says that it's a long story and she must start from the very beginning; that night in the barn. The majority of this season 4 finale is told in flashbacks.

Alison reveals that she slipped her mother's sleeping pills into the girls' drinks, so that they would not be awake to ask questions and stop her from her adventurous night ahead. As soon as everyone had fallen asleep, Ali pulled out her phone to re-read the text she received earlier that day: "Tonight's the night I kill you. I'll give you 3 guesses before I do so. I like games. -A"

Spencer interrupts Ali's narration and asks why Ali never mentioned A to them back then. "Although I never knew who A was, I was always certain on why someone was after me. I was never the nicest person around town. Sometimes not even to you four. I had some big enemies and I knew the texts were coming from one of them who just had enough of me. The absolute least I could've done was to not involve any of you in a deadly game that I probably caused... and deserved." Alison continues her narration of events from that night. She struggles to tell the rest of the story, because she knows what a mind-bender this will be for her friends.

Ali says that she left the barn and went to Wilden's house first, as he was her first of three guesses as to A's identity. We see Ali at Wilden's front door step, banging on the door. "Darren. Can you stop with the damn texts? I had the abortion like you asked and now you want to kill me too?" Detective Wilden opens the door while wearing nothing but a towel and looks absolutely puzzled: "Alison! If you don't keep your voice down, I might have to kill you. I don't know what texts you're talking about. You need to shut up and get the hell off my property before someone sees us together." Genuinely scared, Alison backs off and believes Wilden when he says that he would rather move on and forget about that summer at Cape May than send texts which can act as written proof of their history. Wilden is not A.

Alison drives to the hospital of the blind to visit her second A-suspect: Jenna. "Oh sweet Jenna. You've made a big mistake. Those texts you've been sending to get back at me for the little accident in your garage... they're stopping tonight. Because if the texts don't stop, your homemade movies with Toby will be all over the internet first thing in the morning. No matter what you try do to me Jenna, I will always win. No text can erase those filthy tapes. That's all. I'll see my way out now." As Alison leaves the blind-hospital, she receives a text: "2 down, 1 to go! Make your next guess count, or it'll be the last thing you do. -A" She looks back and sees a frozen Jenna still sitting in her bed, tears pouring down from underneath her glasses. Jenna is not A.

Alison narrates that her final best guess as to the identity of A, was Melissa: the smartest person in Rosewood, smarter than Spencer. Spencer takes offence but lets Alison continue her narration. Alison marches into the Hastings livingroom and of course, Melissa was studying at 3am alone. Alison suddenly lunges for Melissa's phone and takes it. Alison starts going through Melissa's sent folder. "You're not even going to stop me?" asks Ali. "Good morning? Alison, you're only giving me more reasons to think you're crazy. What the hell are you doing here at 3 in the morning? Give me my phone back!" snaps Melissa. Alison sees that Melissa's sent folder is full of only love messages to Garret and she begins to realise that her third and final guess is probably wrong. "You're not A? I'm an ass to Spencer, I hooked up with Darren while he was seeing you, I told everyone you hooked up with your brother Jason and I filmed your boyfriends. You have every reason to hate me, Melissa." Ali is getting really desperate as she knows this was her third and final guess as to A's identity, before A comes to kill her. "Just tell me that you're A!" she declares. Melissa can see that Alison is about to have a heart attack so she jumps in: "Yes, Alison. I'm A." Alison's tears instantly stop, like that sentence was music to her ears. Melissa finishes that sentence: "A for annoyed. I have an exam in 6 hours, now get the hell out of my house before I call the police!"

Alison runs nextdoor to her house and dashes into her room. She buries her face in her pillow and cries. Her phone vibrates and she reads the text: "You're not as smart as I thought. If you're going to try run from me, at least take your heels off. -A" Jessica walks into the room and instantaneously, Ali stops crying, almost as if she had two personalities. "Ali. I don't want you sneaking out tonight like last week. The sun will be up in only 6 hours. Just this one night, it's very important to me that you stay in your room." Jessica walks out and closes Ali's bedroom door, but the thin slab of wood isn't soundproof. Jessica's phone rings. "Please send someone. I'm very, very worried," says Jessica, which Ali hears her mother say into her phone. Alison ignores her mother's orders and sneaks out of her room.

Back to present-day narration, Ali notes that "I needed to get back to you guys in the barn before you wake up or else you'll think something was up. On my way back... I... found out the hard way that A wasn't kidding. I lost the game." Alison begins crying, and is lost for words. The present-day narration cuts out, and the story is told via visual flashbacks only:

Alison is running towards the barn, when all of a sudden, she is hit by a rock in the head. Jessica, who saw everything from her window, rushes over to Alison's almost lifeless body and begins to dig a grave in her backyard. Jessica softly lays Alison inside the massive hole she dug and then she begins shoveling dirt on top of her daughter. "What have you done!? What have you done!?" was all Alison could hear her mother growling from the bottom of the filled-up grave. From beneath the grave, Alison can hear the distinct footsteps of two people running further away from her; Jessica, and the one she must be covering for - the one who hit her. Suddenly, Alison's hand pokes from out of the dirt and the camera holds this shot of Ali reaching for life for a long, painfully drawn-out minute. At the end of the minute, another hand grabs Alison's and the camera pans up to reveal Mona pulling Alison out of the ground. Mona drives Alison to the Lost Woods Resort. "It looks like someone wanted you dead, Ali. Any idea who that might be?" Alison is still frozen. Speechless. Mona continues: "You can't go back home today. You're the girl who lived... whoever tried to kill you is just going to strike again to finish the job they failed. Promise me you'll watch from the sidelines, stay safe, and try figure out who did this to you before coming home?" Alison and Mona hug... they have a deal. In exchange for Mona saving Ali's life, Ali apologises for her bullying and provides tips on how to shed her Loser-Mona persona she regretfully created. The next morning, Alison drives away with a packed bag, indicating she snuck home to get some belongings. As Alison drives away, Mona scrolls/flips through the pages of her diary, which Mona stealthily stole from her bag.

In the present, Ali is still crying after narrating that story. "Mona was such a two-faced bitch," mutters Aria. "Still is," says Ali, but Emily sticks up for her new friend. "No, Ali. She's changed. Mona isn't that same person. She saved our lives last week at the fire," says Emily. "Well looks like she forgot you, Em. I saved you," reveals Ali. "I sensed something terribly wrong was going to happen that night so I followed you all to the Lodge. And thank god I did."

Spencer asks the question on everyone's mind: "You've been watching from the sidelines all this time but you never once saw who A is?" Ali declares that "No one hears A, no one sees A. Those are the rules." Spencer feels the conversation diverted from the bombshell dropped a few moments earlier. "Ali, do you have any idea why your mother would bury you?" Alison starts crying again, and Aria gives Spencer a dirty look, which could be read as "relax Spencer, it's a sensitive topic". Spencer raises her eyebrows which was an "I had to ask" moment. "I don't know," begins Ali. "She saw who hit me and this person was more important to protect than her own daughter." Alison pauses and struggles to get out the next sentence. "Who could my mother think is more important than me? Now do you see why I can't come home? I can deal with the enemies I made at school, that'll be easy. But I can't just run home and hide because I've got a mother from hell and a stalker lurking in the bushes waiting to finish what they started."

Aria asks the question on everyone's mind. "Ali... who do you think A is?" Ali shares that "Mona played me like a fool. The girl with knee high socks and glasses sticky-taped together was never once on my list of suspects. I'm clearly not very good at this guessing game, Aria." Spencer asks Ali if she saw who lit the fire, as that may be a good starting point. Ali reveals that she saw Jenna light the fire, but she isn't A, as she she saw someone else in a hoodie later in the night. Spencer reveals to the girls that Toby also said that Jenna lit the fire, and since this aligns with Ali's story, she is slightly more inclined to believe Toby's innocence now. Hanna notes the similarity between the fire in Jenna's garage and the fire at the lodge, and that this therefore seems like an elaborate way to get revenge for The Jenna Thing. Evidently, Jenna still hates the girls for taking her eyesight, and Jenna may forever be a villain in their lives who pops up whenever she misses her eyesight.

All of a sudden, the Liars hear police sirens from outside their door. "Alison DiLaurentis, we know you're alive. If you don't open the door now, we will come in." Their phones vibrate and they all read the text out loud: "Ali Ali Oxen Be Free!" Ali declares again that she's not ready to come home but Spencer reminds her that perhaps this is for the best - she can't be any safer than with the police. "If you just tell them everything you told us, they'll understand, and they'll protect you... from your mother, from A, from everyone," suggests Aria. Ali isn't necessarily sold, but she says she has no other choice. She says that she doesn't want the girls to get arrested for withholding information in a murder investigation, so she instructs them to flee via the fire escape while she turns herself in. Spencer agrees with this. Emily speaks on behalf of the group to Ali: "You're safe now, Ali. We'll be in contact soon, somehow. We promise." The Liars run to the rooftop of the building and the very second they flee, the police break through the door to Ali's apartment. Ali stands there and accepts her defeat. She complies when handcuffs are put on her and she is put into a police vehicle, not for arrest, but for questioning. As the Liars are running up the fire escape to not be caught by the police for being in contact with Ali, Aria poses a brilliant question: "Why would A tell the police Ali is alive if A wanted to frame us for Ali's murder? What changed?" Spencer thinks she has the answer: "Who's to say A knew Ali is alive? My bet is A just found out and now A is angry that there's no longer a dead body that can get us arrested." Hanna sarcastically adds that the worst A can do to them is have them arrested for withholding information in a murder case, but Spencer corrects her and adds that the case is still open for attempted murder. "Jail is jail, Hanna! We need to get out of here now!" yells Emily.

As soon as the Liars reached the rooftop, they see someone in a black hoodie standing in front of them and the black hoodie releases gas which knocks out the girls. After a smash to black, the Liars wake up in the back of a van, with a masked black hoodie driving in the dark to an unknown location, ending season 4.


	5. Season 5

Picking up where season 4 ended, the Liars each wake up in their own bedrooms. They all have confused looks on their faces as they appear to be safe in their own rooms, despite last remembering being in danger. One by one they walk over to their bedroom door and upon touching the door handle, they are electrocuted. They look out into the window but realise the flying birds haven't flapped their wings in far too long; it's just a wallpaper. They are not at home. A deep, unrecognisable, auto-tuned voice begins to play over the speaker in each of the Liars' rooms: "Good morning dolls. My endgame is here! Please make yourselves at home. Lunch will be served soon. Behave!" Spencer finds a post-card on her desk and sees a picture of a large open field, identical to page 2 of the brochure Toby gave her. (Again, Spencer is slowly trusting Toby despite not having spoken to him recently.) A has been building and planning this for a while.

All 15 episodes of the fifth and final season are spent within A's dollhouse. To give the audience an occasional breath of fresh air from the dark and gloomy sights of the dollhouse, we also see what is going on outside the walls of the dollhouse: the entire Rosewood Police and the Liars' loved ones work together in the race to find the girls. Everyone is pushing to the finish line. Here I'll outline the overarching story to be told, amongst lighter material here and there. This season is by far the darkest - there is a lot of psychological torture and scenes designed merely to cause suspense, as oppose to tell an actual story.

* * *

Back in Rosewood, Alison is giving her first official statement to the police. Tanner begins by telling Alison that before she can go home to sleep in her own room, she needs to comply with formal procedures and answer some questions to assist her murder-turned-missing-person investigation. Alison opens her mouth but she instantly flashes back to that night when she was buried alive by her own mother; reminding herself that home is not an option. She needs to tell what her mother did to her, in order to be kept away from home and be safe.

"That night, my friends and I were having a sleepover in Spencer's barn. Everyone else fell asleep as soon as the movie finished but I was restless… I screwed up my French exam that morning… I studied so hard for it and I couldn't stop telling myself what a failure I was. I got up in the middle of the night and walked next door to my house to get one of my anxiety pills to help me sleep, and on my way back… I was attacked". Detective Tanner sits up, nervous but ready for the answers to her never ending investigation.

"I don't know who it was, they hit me from behind," finishes Ali and Tanner shows slight disappointment in this anticlimactic moment. Ali, so focused on the story she's telling, doesn't take notice of Tanner's expressions and so she continues. "But my mother saw everything. She was standing at our window and she saw the whole thing. The next thing I remember, my mother was burying me in our backyard. I know it was her, I could hear her talking to someone. I know my mother's voice from a mile away. I'm an expert at holding my breath so I was able to eventually dig my way out to the top. Someone helped me. I felt a hand touching mine so I grabbed it and squeezed tight. Next thing I knew, I was above ground again. I wanted to thank the person who saved me but they were gone before I could get the dirt out of my eyes. I was so scared. I ran. I rented an apartment twenty minutes out of Rosewood under the name Vivian Darkbloom and for only five bucks a day, I knew I was safe. I dedicated everyday to finding out who wanted me dead and also why my mother would do that to me. But the other day I gave up. I was just going in circles. I had made no progress. I knew I needed my friends' help so I came back to Rosewood. It was a risk but I needed to see them. Here I am."

Tanner is stunned at Alison's mouthful of revelations. She thanks Alison for her willingness to speak and due to procedure, she asks Ali whether she would like her mother to come pick her up. Of course Ali rejects, and she asks for her father instead. Tanner is silent for a minute before reaching for Alison's hand and breaking some bad news to her, that Ken's body was found last night in his own backyard. Alison begins crying hysterically as she loved her father very much. Now can't feel safe anywhere, not even home. As she marches out of the police station, she tries calling each of the girls but there is no answer. Ali has a very concerned look on her face. Suddenly, a text comes through: "Don't worry. Your friends are safe with me. For now. -A"

Back in the dollhouse, the Liars are one by one opening the door to their rooms and they find each other on the other side in the corridor. They rush to each other and share a group hug. After they each express how scared they are, the voice plays again, instructing them to follow the lighted path to the next room. Walking in a line, holding hands, terrified, the Liars walk slowly towards the door at the end of the hallway. Spencer takes initiative and reaches for the door handle with hesitation but sighs of relief when it doesn't zap her. Inside the room is a pre-prepared tea party. "Bon appetite!" says the voice.

The tea party consists of awkward silence and hesitancy to actually drink the tea out of fear it was drugged. A red light pulsates from the camera in the top right corner of the room: they're being watched. The doorbell suddenly rings very loudly, causing Hanna to spills her tea. Spencer again takes initiative and answers the door with caution. Spencer gasps when she is faced by Mona, who the liars assumed was still in Rosewood. As soon as Mona sits down to join them at the tea party, Hanna asks Mona where they are and how she got here. "I have no idea where we are," begins Mona. "The last thing I remember was walking home from school then being thrown into the back of a van... and now I'm here. The second I rang this doorbell, I knew exactly who will be on the other side of that door. Your parents are worried sick about all of you. They spent last night at the police station screaming and crying, blasting Tanner for failing to keep Rosewood safe."

The Liars pause; clearly distraught at A's indirect emotional torture to their parents. Emily asks Mona if she remembers anything post-kidnaping which may help them work out where they are. "I don't know if this is significant," says Mona. "But right after A took the blindfold off me, I saw in the corner of my eye A's license plate for their van. ADCD." Hanna chuckles, stating that it's unlike A to get the second letter of the alphabet wrong. "What if this wasn't a failed rhythm. Those letters might mean something," Mona suggests. Suddenly a siren begins to play at a frequency and volume so high that is excruciatingly painful to the ears. Televisions around the room flash the words "Go to your rooms!" and a ten-second countdown begins. Upon rushing to their individual rooms and slamming the door shut, the siren finally stops. "Oh thank god," sighs Hanna.

In the dollhouse, the Liars are resting in their beds, surprisingly comfortably. Spencer knows that if she wants to work out who has captured her, she must look for things in her room that are different to her real room back in Rosewood. She searches in toy boxes, in the wardrobe, under the bed, lifts broken floor boards, under the carpet, but no clues are found. Out of anger, she throws a wooden chair at the wall; a replica of the wooden chair Toby made her for their 1 year anniversary. She sees that she dented the wallpaper and she rushes to it, peeling off a small section. Spencer sees that beneath the wallpaper in her room is some graffiti. When A was building this place, A played hangman with someone beneath the wall. Spencer takes a step back, in pure shock at the word A played in hangman: chArles. Notably, the A is capitalised and circled in red. Despite the word being correctly guessed, the hangman was still drawn in full, the man clearly dead and decorated with skulls. Spencer quickly covers up the wallpaper, hoping that A was instead watching one of her friends when she made this discovery.

In the morning, the Liars wake up to an envelope next to their pillow. Still in their separate rooms, they each open it and read "In loving memory of Alison DiLaurentis. Come celebrate her life, now, room 6." They all get out of their rooms, meet each other in the hallway and walk down to room 6 together. The room is set up just like a funeral. Church pews were laid out in front of a closed casket and an oversized picture of Alison. Clearly, a lot of effort went into this. Above Alison's photo read the words "In Loving Memory". Emily is confused so she asks the girls if something happened to Ali outside of the walls they are trapped in, or if they are reenacting her funeral. The Liars walk to the front row and find that their names have been placed on the seats. Emily points out that the seating arrangement is identical to that of Alison's actual funeral. Mona is seated alone, a few rows behind. The same audio that was played at Alison's funeral begins to play, and Emily realises her own question was just answered: this is a re-enactment of Alison's funeral.

As they sit down in their prescribed seats, Spencer notices a fully masked black hoodie quietly enter from behind them. The black hoodie takes their seat behind them. "Guys. A's watching us," whispers Spencer. The Liars all turn around and A puts their fingers to their lips, imitating a shhhh. A points to the casket, non-verbally telling the Liars to face the front. The video celebrating Ali's life begins to play on the screen. Spencer, unaware of the next time she will get to see her friends, waits until the music in the presentation gets loud to begin whisper-talking to them. "Guys, the best way out of here is to bargain our way out," insists Spencer. "With what? We know nothing. We have nothing," replies Aria. "That might not be true. Don't ask how, but I think A is a guy. Named" The music in the presentation suddenly comes to a low point; so low that they can all hear Emily's stomach growl. "Charles," finishes Spencer, in the suddenly dead-silent room. The black hoodie in the back row pulls out a phone and activates the excruciatingly painful loud siren. The projector now displays a 10 second timer, and the girls know they have to run back to their rooms. A isn't happy.

Mona rushes to her wooden desk and moves everything off it, revealing the indentations on the desk which were covered by her books: ADCD in acrostic form. Mona removes the bobby pin from her hair and she carves in her theory as to the meaning of A's license plate: she etches in Alison for the A, DiLaurentis for the D, and Charles for the C. The final D remains unknown. Two things are looking very likely: A's name is Charles and he is obsessed with Alison. Mona covers up her indentations on the desk with her books again.

Note that a lot of work is happening outside the walls of the dollhouse to find the girls. Ezra, Caleb and Alison are staying up all night. Toby tries too, as he thinks that if he finds Spencer, he will win her back.

Very frustrated about the careless mistake that lead to the discovery of the name Charles, A marches back to the van used to kidnap the girls. A opens the glove box of the car and retrieves the Liars' phones which clearly were taken off them before entering the dollhouse. A runs to a room labelled 'office' and sits down in their oversized throne, with all of the Liars' phones on their lap. On A's desk is a small wheel with each of the Liars' faces around it. A spins the wheel and it lands on Spencer, leading A to pick up Spencer's phone first. A opens the Liars' group chat and gloved up, sends the first text from Spencer's phone: "guys, Ali's back in town and she's probably talking to the cops right now. Am I the only one who's scared?" A spins the wheel again and it lands on Aria. A picks up Aria's phone. The cycle continues, until an artificial conversation has been staged in the Liars' group chat, framing the girls for Alison's murder. After spending some time in Rosewood with Caleb, Ezra, Toby and Alison trying to find the girls, the camera eventually comes back to A and over A's shoulders, we see the entire fake conversation that A wrote from the girls' phones:

Spencer: guys, Ali's back in town and she's probably talking to the cops right now. Am I the only one who's scared?

Emily: she said she didn't see who hit her. We're safe.

Aria: why is she taking so long at the police station? Do we believe she didn't see us?

Hanna: yes, Aria. She doesn't have eyes on the back of her head. We got her from behind. Everything's fine.

Spencer: Ali always knows everything. I'm not taking my chances with that bitch.

Aria: what are you saying?

Spencer: I'm saying this is not a good weekend to be in Rosewood. Pack a bag. My place, 8 o'clock, then we'll hit the road.

Aria: *thumbs up emoji*

Hanna: *thumbs up emoji*

Emily: *thumbs up emoji*

A turns on the GPS location on the Liars' phones and then places the phones back in the van.

* * *

Alison marches into Tanner's office at the police station, only to find Ezra, Caleb and Toby already expressing their anger and fear for having lost the girls. Tanner asserts that "Yelling at me will not bring the girls home any faster. The entire Rosewood PD is working overtime to locate the girls. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a job to get back to." Tanner escorts the guys out, but gives Alison a little warning on her way out. "Alison. If you hear from your friends, you need to let me know straight away. I'm no longer so sure of their innocence in all of this." Feeling like a bombshell was just dropped on her, Ali declares an explanation but Tanner already said too much by giving information on her case. As she non-aggressively forces Alison out the door, Tanner returns to her office desk where it is seen that she has traced the girls' phones and read the messages A constructed: Tanner thinks the girls tried to kill Ali and have run away out of fear.

A location for the girls' cell phones had just gone online, as per A's doings, and Tanner calls her team of police officers. "I have a location for the girls, I'm sending it to you now. By the time you get there, I'll have the judge's signatures all over these arrest warrants. Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, Emily Fields and Aria Montgomery will be under arrest for the attempted murder of Alison DiLaurentis." As Tanner hangs up the phone, on her desk can be seen the photo of the girls at Ali's grave holding the shovel, implying A sent it to her.

* * *

Back in the dollhouse, A is seen replaying on a loop Tanner's final declaration for the arrest of the girls, indicating A not only tapped into Tanner's call and overhead it, but is immensely satisfied. The plan is working: the liars are about to be arrested for Alison's attempted murder. A has tapped into the Rosewood PD's radio communication line and can hear that they are 30 minutes away from the location. A sends an announcement to the girls in their rooms over the loudspeaker, of course with a voice modifier. "Tea room, now!" And A twiddles their fingers in that cliche evil way, and disembarks their throne.

The Liars enter the tea room and see it has been rearranged to a theatre room, with 5 wooden seats lined up. On each seat is a roll of tape and there is a card with instructions, demanding that the girls tie each other up. After refusing to follow such demented instructions, the siren begins playing again and they know it won't stop until A is happy again. They must comply: they must tie each other to the chairs. Spencer, the last one standing untied, is forcibly and aggressively tied up by A, who enters the room masked up. The siren stops, and A pulls out their own personal ear plugs. An iconic shot is held for a few moments of Aria, Hanna, Emily, Mona and Spencer strapped down to chairs, lips sealed, facing A. The Liars are shaking with tears coming out, not knowing what is about to happen to them. A peals off their mask and reveals their identity to the Liars. As A throws their mask across the room, the Liars scream and try bust out of their chairs to attack this person they once called a friend, but not much can be heard and done when strapped down. The screen slowly and painfully transitions into a shot of 5 police vehicles racing to the location, reminding the audience that the Liars are in trouble: captured by A, and about to be arrested for attempted murder.

The series finale picks up where the penultimate episode left off; with the 5 girls strapped down to chairs facing the unmasked A. A reaches into their pocket and picks up a microphone. "Of all my investments, this thing has to be one of my favourites. It's so cool isn't it. I get to be someone else for a change. I think I'll keep using it," says A into the microphone which deepens A's voice through the speakers. Still, the audience is unaware of who the Liars are facing.

A continues to speak into the microphone: "I thought it would be nice if we all gathered for some story time... what do you think? Oh wait, you can't speak, hah! Sorry. Oh well. But buckle up, it's gonna be a wild night. Oh wait, you're already strapped down! Oh man. I crack myself up sometimes." Clearly, A is very cocky. "I've only got 18 minutes so I'm gonna try make a long story really short." The girls look at each other terrified as they have no idea what A is planning.

"Mommy, can you come in here for a sec?" shouts A and in walks Jessica DiLaurentis very slowly as she drags a dead body with her. "Charlotte, what are we going to do with this bastard?" asks Jessica. The Liars look at each other with utter confusion as to the meaning of the name Charlotte - that's not the name they know of the person in front of them. Note that the audience still does not know who is under the black hoodie. The dead body; the 'bastard', is revealed to be Ken DiLaurentis. Jessica sees that the girls are tied up and she asks Charlotte what the hell she was thinking. "They haven't got very long left, at least let them speak to each other for gods sake Charlotte!" says Jessica as she rips the tape off each of the girls' mouths. The Liars are still so terrified to even say a word. They don't even know which question to ask first.

Jessica can see the Liars' eyes are fixated on Ken's dead body in front of them, so she uses that as the starting point of conversation. "Turn those frowns upside down girls, he deserved it!" begins Jessica. She points to the black hoodie, now known as Charlotte, as she says: "I mean, when my beautiful daughter was born as Charles, he threatened to kill her for wanting to become Charlotte. That transphobic ass forced me to kick my own daughter out of the family. I was ready to leave him but I'd be on the streets without his money. Radley is a non-for-profit organisation, I mean, my pay cheques couldn't even put half a meal on the dinner table. He made me do dirty, dirty things to him. Everyday. The horny bastard couldn't go a day without me, likewise I couldn't go a day without him." Jessica begins to tear up and the Liars jaws are all wide open. "So yeah. He had to go." Charlotte asks her mother if she can take her hands off her ears, as she doesn't like to hear this part of the story involving rape. "Are you done?" asks Charlotte. "Yes, sweetie. C'mon, only 12 minutes left."

Mona buts in and asks what is going to happen to them in 12 minutes, but Charlotte tells her to wait for it. Spencer begins to put some pieces together: "that's why my father wrote you a cheque for a hundred grand... so you can leave Ken?" Jessica makes a quick comment about Spencer indeed being the smart one, implying she's right. Spencer continues: "and you buried Ali alive so that you can finally leave Ken's house without feeling like you've left something, or someone, precious behind?" Jessica snaps. "You don't know the half of it, Spencer! No one feels worse about what happened that night than I do. Mr Drake and I created a crazy but damn beautiful girl and to have to bury her is a mother's nightmare," says Jessica. "Who the hell is Mr Drake?" asks a confused Aria. "I don't even know," clarifies Jessica. "Some one night stand. I haven't seen him since Ali was born. He wanted nothing to do with his daughter. After Ken kicked out our daughter Charlotte, he promised me I can at least keep one good thing in my life: my other daughter, Alison. He promised me he would raise her like she's his own. And he did. At least he has half a heart."

Spencer expresses to Jessica that what Ken put her through at home is pure evil, but that is no excuse to get $100k from her father. Jessica snaps: "You think I'm corrupt!? Your father gave me that money to protect Alex for killing Marion Cavanaugh. I had to blame the innocent Bethany Young! She was rightfully pissed at me! And that night she was coming to kill me!" Charlotte then explains how she wanted to protect her mother from the enraged Bethany, so she sought to kill Bethany, only to accidentally hit Alison instead. Charlotte makes a statement about there being too many blondes in Rosewood, before finishing with a conclusive statement: "The two people who love Ali most... her half sister and her mother... responsible for her death? I don't think so. We only recently found out she's alive and thank god... but we are doing whatever it takes to be one big happy family again. Bye bye Ken... Bye bye Wilden! One day we're soaking up the sun together in Cape May, the next day he's threatening to arrest us for killing Ali if we don't pay him thousands! He's the one who recommended we bury the body in the first place... what an ass! Do you see how this is all one big mess? Now, someone still has to get arrested for her attempted murder. That won't be us. That's where you five come in!"

Emily declares that that is ludicrous as Ali is their best friend - Ali, nor the cops, will fall for this. "Does Ali know any of this? What you two did to her? That Ken is not her father?" asks Emily. "Of course not! And you won't be around to tell her," replies Charlotte, still talking into her vocoder microphone. The Liars look terrified at this point. "Ever wondered where this went, Mona?" asks Charlotte as she holds up Ali's diary. "I took it. From your brilliant lair. And my gosh, Ali was such a cynical bitch to you five! It's been a pleasure convincing the police that you five wanted revenge on Ali and plotted her murder. It's been our pleasure scaring you to death, to make you wish you were in prison. You have exactly 94 seconds before the pigs barge in here and arrest you." Jessica begins untying the girls whilst Charlotte tells them that "I'd start running if I were you".

Charlotte finally puts down the microphone and in a moment of revelations as to who the girls have been face to face with for the entire finale, the camera finally pans around to the front of the hoodie to reveal... CeCe's face. Spencer tells CeCe that she won't get away with this, but CeCe and Jessica just look at each other with boredom in their eyes. Everything that had been revealed up to this point was not about a new character named Charlotte: Charlotte is the character that the Liars always knew as CeCe. The Liars all make eye contact with their tormenter, CeCe, before running out of the dollhouse together.

Outside the dollhouse, Tanner has just arrived with 4 other police cars. Police officers with bullet proof vests come out of their cars and they begin talking to Tanner. Tanner confirms that the mission is to arrest the Liars. Meanwhile, another car pulls up right next to Tanner and Tanner pulls her gun up, out of fear for who followed her there. The window rolls down and it's just Alison. "Officer Tanner, you can't arrest my friends," declares Alison. "I know what you think of them, but they're innocent in all this, I swear." Tanner tells Ali to step aside and let her do her job, but Alison is very persistent so she continues. "There's something you don't know about that night. I drugged my friends. I put them all to sleep. They were knocked out the whole entire night. I did that so they wouldn't follow me while I go after my tormentor who was Mona at the time but someone stole that game from Mona. It's the same game with a different puppet master. This person has kidnaped my friends and brought them here to try and make it look like they're guilty." Ali takes a breath. "Why does anyone ever frame someone? The protect themselves. I'm certain my real killer is inside hurting my friends." Tanner is slowly but surely looking convinced but Ali needs to keep talking to truly convince her. "Tanner, I want to know who tried to kill me just as much as you do. I want to close this case. I would only prolong it if I was absolutely certain. Please, don't arrest my friends." Tanner is officially on board with Ali's train of thought so she asks Ali what the hell to do now give the literal last second change of plans. "I have an idea," says Ali.

Back in the dollhouse, the Liars are sporadically running through the hallways of the dollhouse trying to find an exit. Over the loud speaker, they hear Charlotte's voice auto tuned again. "We're going to go now. Have fun in prison, bitches!" Suddenly the Liars bump shoulders with Alison, who is just beginning to put on a black hoodie over her pink shirt. Spencer tells Ali that she's confused as to how she got here, but nonetheless it is great to see her. Ali clears the air and says she put on a hoodie so she can come in and safely grab the girls, and hopefully A will assume she is just another minion floating around. Aria then tells Ali that the cops are coming to arrest her and the others so they need to make a move now. Alison clears the air. "Relax guys! Everything is going to be okay. Everyone knows you're being framed. The cops are outside but they're here for A, not you. Do you trust me?" asks Ali. There's a short pause but of course the girls trust Ali - look how far they've come. Ali instructs that everyone follows her as she guides them through the way she entered.

Whilst running, Ali asks if they know who A is and Spencer says CeCe's name. Before they they can reveal any further information, a smoke grenade is thrown into the hallway and all 6 girls pass out. Over the loudspeaker they hear CeCe's voice loud and clear: "Ali! It's good to see you my dear, but we can't have your friends make us look like the bad guys!" One by one, Charlotte and Jessica drag Aria, Emily, Hanna, Spencer and Mona's body into a separate room, leaving Alison lying there on her own. Jessica picks up a gun. "Mother! This is MY game. Killing them was never in my rulebook!" declares Charlotte. Jessica and Charlotte argue back and forth as to whether to kill the girls to prevent them from telling Ali anything further, particularly about her true identity as a Drake and the events of that night. The Liars slowly regain consciousness and Charlotte panics. Meanwhile in the other room, Alison has slowly awaken too. She pulls out her phone and searches for service. She finally gets it and she texts Caleb who is waiting outside with Toby and Ezra: "it's CeCe". The boys rush to Tanner to tell her the identity of the tormentor who is inside with the girls. Alison hears a gunshot from the other room and naturally screams. She types another text "shots fired. send help now" however it is struggling to be sent with the limited phone service inside the dollhouse.

Laying on the ground won't bring in backup, so she runs to find the nearest exit from the Dollhouse. As soon as she steps outside, a helicopter from up above shines their light on her. "Eyes on a blonde in a black hoodie" is the message Tanner receives in her earpiece. "CeCe's getting away. Open fire," declares Tanner and Alison is shot dead.

Wearing their bullet proof vests, Tanner marches inside the Dollhouse with her police squad. They follow the sounds of the Liars' screams and the police locate them very quickly. They see a gun in Jessica's hand and Mona on the floor, having taken a shot to the leg. Jessica raises the gun to her head and pulls the trigger, taking her own life. CeCe, on the other hand, puts her hands behind her back and allows herself to be arrested. A medic is called in instantly and Mona is lifted out of the Dollhouse while Spencer, Hanna, Aria and Emily walk out together, arms locked around each other.

* * *

The final scene of the series is Alison's funeral. It is set up exactly as in the pilot, with only 2 differences - the girls actively make room to allow Mona to sit with them at the front (with her crutches) and notably, both Jessica and Ken are absent. Two A games later and a family has been wiped out. During their speeches, every Liar calls Alison a hero, as she died in an attempt to call for help. Each liar reflects on their favourite memories with Ali. Hanna thanks Ali for being there for her when struggling with her eating disorder. Mona thanks Ali for apologising for creating the Loser Mona image and helping her shed it. Aria thanks Ali for always being there to listen and solve her problems together. Spencer thanks Ali for being so competitive to the point that they brought out the best in one another. Emily thanks Ali for being an unforgettable first love. At the end of the funeral, the 5 girls gather outside of the church and can't help but address the elephant in the room. They are obviously devastated by Ali's death, even still got tears, but they all do feel a sense of closure with Ali's death. This closure stems from the fact that Ali was at the centre of every bad thing that had ever happened to them. Both A games revolved around Ali and her death feels like a tragically beautiful symbol for no more games, ever. The Liars all agree that only now, it truly, truly feels like it's all over. As the Liars finish their emotional revelations, a newspaper flies past them on the ground. They pick it up and they see that the front page is an article and photo of CeCe being imprisoned. Below that is an article of Tanner being fired from the police force as well as imprisoned, for opening fire on a person who she did not identify 100% confidently. All 5 girls hug outside the church and express their love for one another as the camera pans up across the iconic Rosewood church, fading out into the sky.


	6. Summary of Answers

Mona is Original A. She sends a text at Ali's funeral to reunite the group after they parted ways over summer, and she continues to play games with them to keep them from falling apart. Eventually, Mona starts sending herself texts to ease her transition into the now-stable group and her plan was to end the game, without revealing herself, as soon as she finally felt loved and accepted by the Liars.

* * *

Mona knows Alison is alive as she was the one to pull Alison out of the dirt that night. Mona successfully convinced Alison that she needs to run away and try figure out who wanted her dead, because if she returns to Rosewood, the same person will simply attack again to finish the job they started.

* * *

Since Mona knows Alison is alive, she thought that part of her A game can include framing the Liars for murdering Ali as the consequences can't be permanent: the second that Ali reveals she is actually alive, the Liars are set free. They didn't actually commit the murder, so this was all a game to Mona, with the prize being the Liars' friendship.

* * *

Mona knew things about the girls via Ali's diary, hence the Liars found it, and lost it, at school - Mona got clumsy one day in the hallway. Mona pinched the diary off Ali that night when she told Ali to pack a bag and run away.

* * *

Mona begins harassing CeCe in early season 2 because she fears that Ali, who is alive, may reach out to her best friend CeCe for help (to work out who hit her that night). This is not good for Mona; Ali will definitely reveal to CeCe that Mona saved her and told her to stay gone. Mona does not want anyone to know this as it may provide clues as to her identity as A. Therefore, CeCe is a threat to Mona and Mona wants to get rid of her.

* * *

The Liars solve that Mona is A and Mona is admitted to Radley, where she passes on Ali's diary to Red Coat. Mona does not remember that she did this as she was so drugged up during her therapy program.

* * *

Red Coat is Alex Hastings, the identical twin sister to Spencer Hastings. Her violent tendencies towards Spencer when they were babies lead to Veronica and Peter putting Alex in Radley, however this was designed to be short term. Out of regret that they separated the family, Peter and Veronica never told Spencer about Alex. Once in Radley, Alex's violent tendencies continued, as she accidentally killed a patient, Marion Cavanaugh. Peter offers to buy Radley to suppress Alex's mistake from becoming public news, but Jessica DiLaurentis, who is on the board of Radley, rejects his purchase-request. Instead, Jessica demands that Peter pays him $100k directly, and in return, she will suppress Alex's deadly mistake. Peter pays, and Jessica protects Alex by waving her wand and shifting the blame to the most violent patient at Radley: Bethany Young. Jessica abused her power at Radley to get money off Peter and it is her corrupt nature that explains the family feud between the Hastings and DiLaurentis.

* * *

With Bethany labelled as Marion's killer, Radley apologies to Alex by granting her occasional out-privileges from Radley. This is how she was able to play the game as Red Coat. Alex realised how great it is to be out; she never wants to go back to Radley, so her answer is to kill Spencer and take over her life. This is her motive for being Red Coat and the reason why she put Spencer in a box to throw her off a train.

* * *

Alex sees that the girls already have a threat in their lives, so Alex teams up with Big A to harass the girls together.

Alex is Big A's main source of information on the girls. Alex obtained Ali's diary from Mona when she came to Radley, and, Alex eavesdrops on the girls by frequently pretending to be Spencer. In exchange for providing such valuable information on the girls, Big A agrees to help Alex kill Spencer, so that Alex can officially become Spencer.

* * *

Big A lures Aria, Hanna and Emily to the lodge one night meanwhile the real Spencer is out with Toby; Toby was ordered by Big A and. Red Coat to kill Spencer if he wants closure on his mother's death. Toby can't follow through with this order. Meanwhile at the lodge, Mona detected Alex's presence so Mona intervened and stopped Alex from officially taking Spencer's place. This lead to Alex's death. The fire at the lodge was lit by Jenna in a separate agenda to Alex and Big A, who did not want to kill the girls.

That night, Mona was able to save Ali because Mona was there; she threatened to kill Ali that night once and for all. However, Mona accidentally hit Bethany Young, who had escaped from Radley that night with the intent of getting revenge on Jessica for blaming her for Marion's murder.

* * *

Alison is actually the product of Jessica and Mr. Drake (an unknown, irrelevant male) and CeCe is actually the product of Jessica and Ken. That is, Alison Drake and CeCe DiLaurentis. CeCe was born with the name Charles DiLaurentis and she later transitioned to Charlotte DiLaurentis. Ken is massively transphobic and insisted he wants nothing to do with his own daughter. Ken threatened to kill his own daughter if CeCe does not move out, so she did. Mr Drake was a 'one night stand' so Jessica unfortunately can't find a home for CeCe; she provides for herself, becomes self-sufficient, and finally moves back to Rosewood in season 2. She hides this by telling the Liars she left Rosewood for a bit to mourn Ali's death. Jessica persisted that Ken cannot and will not take away her other daughter, Alison, and so Ken allowed Alison to stay within the DiLaurentis family. Probably the most tragic and messed-up event in the series is the reason why Jessica and Ken did not divorce over this mess: Jessica is not doing well financially and she needs Ken's help, and in return for money, she must sexually please Ken daily. Jessica puts up with rape to be able to provide for herself and Alison and she tries to send CeCe things like money and clothes when possible. The bad relationship between Ken and Jessica is evident throughout the show, but this exact reason is not revealed until late.

Ken raises Alison as if she is her own, as he knows Jessica might leave if he does not provide and treat her well. Alison is being lied to for her whole life. As CeCe was the transgender, she actively experienced everything and therefore CeCe knows it all. But Alison knows nothing; Alison believes she is a DiLaurentis and her parents are Jessica and Ken.

CeCe built a solid and loving relationship with her mother, Jessica, and that night, CeCe went to protect her mother from Bethany. CeCe accidentally hit Ali, thinking it was Bethany.

* * *

Big A is CeCe! She feels guilty as hell for killing her (half) sister, so she dedicates everyday to harassing the girls and making them public menaces to ultimately frame the girls for her own crime. CeCe being transgender has absolutely nothing to do with her motive for being A. Being transgender was solely implemented into this story to fuel the story of Ali and CeCe swapping families due to Ken's transphobia.

Jessica buries Ali for 2 reasons. Firstly, to protect her daughter CeCe. Secondly, Ali's death gives Jessica less of a reason to stay with Ken. She no longer needs Ken to provide for 2 people. With Ali dead and $100k from Peter stashed away, perhaps Jessica can leave and start a new life with CeCe, without Ken. But Ken finds out about how Jessica obtained this $100k and threatens to expose her corrupt nature if she does not stay.

* * *

Alex is CeCe's main source of information on the girls and in return, CeCe must help Alex take over Spencer's life. When Alex dies at the hands of the liars and Mona, CeCe is enraged and wants to see them suffer for the death of her friend.

CeCe only learns that Ali is actually alive when the girls go to meet her in the season 4 finale. This shifts the game from framing the girls for murder, to framing the girls for attempted murder. CeCe wants to close Ali's case with the Liars having hit Ali with the rock.

CeCe's game of framing the liars for her own crime finishes in the dollhouse. She's aware Ali is alive, so the game has shifted to convincing Ali that the Liars are the ones who wanted Ali dead that night - to close out the murder case. However, this backfires on CeCe, as Alison remembers that she drugged the girls that night and that it would've been impossible for them to kill her. Therefore, A must be the real person who wanted her dead.

CeCe kidnaped Mona on her way home from school and brought her into the dollhouse to get revenge on Mona for harassing her when she was A. Remember, Mona began legitimately harassing CeCe as well to protect her own identity as A.

* * *

Terrified and scared about having hurt Ali, Charlotte calls Wilden and asks for advice on how to get away with murder. Note that Charlotte and Wilden were close since they spent that summer together at Cape May, and Charlotte thought Wilden wouldn't mind hearing of Ali's death as it'll mean her abortion will never become public news. Wilden says to burry the body, which they do. However, Wilden isn't being paid very well on the force as he keeps losing all his cases, therefore he betrays Charlotte and starts blackmailing her. He demands money, or else he will tell everyone what she and Jessica did to Ali. Charlotte and Jessica cannot afford this so Charlotte kills Wilden, their former friend, to shut him up.

* * *

Black Veil is also Alex Hastings, who had no choice but to conceal her identity as her identical twin, Spencer, was already attending Wilden's funeral. Alex was attending the funeral as she, along with Big A, killed Wilden, and they want to ensure the funeral 'goes smoothly' with no suspicion of their crime.

* * *

The "motion detected" in Mona's lair in the season 2 finale was indeed CeCe Drake. CeCe stole most of Mona's sources of information on the girls and retained it for when she played the game. It appears CeCe worked out that Mona is A during that time Mona kidnaped CeCe. This is deliberately not explicitly explained in the show. The breadcrumbs are left for only the most attentive fans to figure out. The "motion detected" will be the "how did the moms get out of the basement?" equivalent.

* * *

Alison's death is intended to split the audience. Alison was a bitch to the girls as evident in seasons 1 and 2, and both Mona and Charlotte's games revolved around Alison. Therefore, it seems fair to conclude that Ali is the root cause of most bad things in the Liars' lives; perhaps her death is necessary. However, Ali died in an attempt to be a hero, therefore indicating to the audience that she is a changed person who maybe doesn't deserve to die. Nonetheless, her funeral is deliberately the final scene of the show, truly coming full circle in a controversial way.

* * *

 **If you've made it this far, I'd like to say thank you for investing your time into reading my work. Was my story absolutely perfect? No. However, the story I told is my ideal level of darkness that I simply never got from PLL, and for that reason only, I call it my '** ** _Perfect_** **PLL'.**

 **It is humanly impossible to encapsulate all 15 episodes of all 5 seasons within one post of reasonable length, so I did my best to give the overall vibes of each season and the overarching story that will be told in that season. If you have any questions about the story you just read, please message me on my Tumblr blog thebestplltheories.**

 **Again, thank you for reading and I really, really hope you enjoyed my project!**


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